"Amiga 80's Self Portrait" Corel

Updated Amiga 80's Selfie

As I stated yesterday I found some film (35mm) photographs of Screen Shots of works done on my Amiga 1000 in the 1980's. I had this Self-Portrait Video scanned into the Amiga and enhanced in Deluxe Paint. I took the older photograph and scanned it into my PC with my Canon MP495.

I opened in Corel PhotoPaint the 300dpi scan. I applied the Tone Curve and Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy for a boost to color. I also boosted the color Saturation in PhotoPaint. I used Filter Forge's Frames Grunge Frame for the grunge effect. Here I added my signature and resampled for display.

Notice the 80's glasses I am wearing in this image. Very large lenses and style for those days.

"Myself and 12-String Self-Portrait - Ink" Corel - Paint.NET

Myself and 12-String Self-Portrait - Ink

I was working with my Logitech C260 Webcam today and snapped this Selfie. I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and adjusted with the Smart Photo Fix, some color and sharpening. I used the Skin Smoother on the image. The I added the frame and signature. I saved that iteration.

I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Effects Artistic Ink Sketch. Boosting the color a bit and increasing the Ink size to 70. This gave me the line work in the piece. I would say that the only thing I may have done different is the signature, as it has ink "artifacts" all around it. But not so many I am that concerned.

I still have my Seagull C12 tuned to Open G and will be trying other open tunings soon, perhaps today for a time of practice and fun.

I have found an Alt Tuning website at: http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/tuning/drop-c/ for alternate tunings, in this case Drop C. I love to experiment with making up chords from other tunings by sampling the sounds within the alternate ones. Or I even make up chords, and play scales by ear for the learning experience. It's a challenge I really enjoy on the guitar.

"Pixlr - Self-Portrait" Corel -Plus

Self-Portrait using Pixlr Online

I was introduced to Pixlr online today and I used my webcam to capture an image of me and play around with it in the Pixlr-O-Matic mode. I adjusted it a bit and added a film frame, increased the vibrancy.

Pixlr allows you to select differing ways to work on your images online without having to download any graphics program. They have App versions as well (though I don't know if they cost.) The online version doesn't charge you as of yet.

I wanted to adjust the image of myself a bit more so I opened the image saved to my hard drive at 640x480 with Corel PSP Pro X3 and used the workflow I have described here many times before. I did use the Skin Softening tool and also resized it to a larger display size.

I like Pixlr and it will be great fun to play around with it more whether using the advanced tools or the simplified version.

"We Sing Karaoke" Corel - Plus

We Sing Karaoke [click for larger view]

A change of pace for me today. We had gone to a Graduation Party last summer and they had Karaoke there. Both my wife and I sang some songs together. One of our friends took photographs with my Canon Rebel XTi of us singing.

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to that folder and found those photographs. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and I cropped the photograph to a portrait size. I applied my PSP workflow of the Digital Camera Noise Removal, Smart Photo Fix, and Unsharp Mask soft focus. I also boosted the color with Saturation Vibrancy.

Saving that iteration, I opened in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and applied the Watercolor Sketch setting with the Wash brush. Auto painted, I took the Soft Cloner brush and added back in some detail to the faces and hands. Saving that I reopened in PSP Pro X3 and added the Ornate Picture Frame, and my signature. I resized to a display size for here.

I may not be a performer of my own music but I do enjoy some Karaoke once in a while. Other songwriters songs and lyrics and melodies are some how easier to sing than my own works. So we had an enjoyable time with friends.

"Self-Portrait with Guitars" CorelDRAW - Plus

Seagull 12-String Guitar

 I took this photograph of my Seagull C12 Cedar 12-String Guitar and using Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 auto painted it. I used the Illustration feature for the painting and outlines. Saving that I used Corel PSP Pro X3 to resize it to a larger image. I added with the Fill tool the Yellow Orange background color and saved the file.

CorelDRAW Collage

Using Picasa 3.9 I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and copied it to the clipboard. From there I opened CorelDRAW and pasted the image. I made differing sizes of the guitar by making duplicates and placing them in a collage with a brown border while in DRAW. I Grouped the pieces into one image.

Grunge Collage

I copied that to the clipboard and went to PhotoPaint and pasted it into that program. I saved the large iteration and resampled slightly to allow Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge work on it. I applied the grunge effect.

Ink Sketch Portrait

Browsing in Picasa's faces I selected a Self-portrait. I opened with Paint.NET and made an Ink Sketch of it. I pasted that into PhotoPaint and fit to size. I used the property Overlay for it and that gave it the transparency I wanted. I added my signature and saved the larger iteration.

 

Final Self Portrait with Guitars

I resampled in PhotoPaint for display here and saved that final file.

"Self-portrait with my Wife" Corel PSP Pro X3

Myself and my Wife

Here is a Springtime portrait of myself and my wife taken remotely with our Canon Rebel XTi on a tripod. I hope you have enjoyed all the Digital Visual Art shared this year. I will continue to share art that interests you and is compelling in some way.

This photograph was adjusted in Corel's PSP Pro X3, cropped, saturation was altered a tad, and the mat and frame was added there. I did add my signature and resample in PhotoPaint for display.

"!Music Lives" - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge - PSP Pro X3

! Music Lives

I started to create an image today, a digital collage, about music and this is what I finished with. I had to search for some free music notation font files online and discovered two, MetDemo and MusiSync. I found a third that had guitar chord charts, Accord.

I took the font Abadi MT Condensed ExtraBold and used that for the phrase "Music Lives" and added an exclamation point from the font Basketcase. I found a photograph while browsing in Picasa 3 folders of a 12-string guitar so I used Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder on it for line art and added a couple guitars to the piece.

Almost as an after thought I added an image of myself, unshaven, to add something more to it. I adjusted the image of me from a photograph in PSP Pro X3, making it a line art grunge image.

I also used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge, altering some of the settings as before. This created a framed look, too.

Listening --- America --- This Is For All The Lonely People

Self-Portraits from 1969 - Digital Art - High Contrast - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

We found these old photographic proofs of me in 1969. I have used them before this for collage work but decided to redo them in the High Contrast style I like so much. As you can see I was very much in tune with the times back then, and not much to look at that day.

I scanned the photographs in with my Canon MP495 All in One. I saved the resulting scans in the large size and at 300dpi. I browsed to them in Picasa 3 and opened with PhotoPaint. I applied the High Contrast workflow.

First I applied the Local Equalization to them and then used the Tone Curve for depth. I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance for the color punch. Then I added a 20 pixel black border to each one and my signature.

If you look closely in the one image you can see I was a smoker at that age. I quit smoking cigarettes in 1974.

The guitar player piece behind me was a montage of poster-board and cardboard cutouts painted in fluorescent black light colors that were so popular in that time period.  This piece was displayed at an Art Show, at the then Pontiac Mall, in 1970.

You might like to contrast these with the Painter 11 collage I did of myself listed HERE.

Listening --- King Crimson --- The Court Of The Crimson King

A Journey Called Collage - Lesson #4 - Corel Painter 11

Click for Larger Image

My taking the course A Journey Called Collage at Digital Art Academy afforded me a chance to learn more of the functions of Corel Painter 11. I thoroughly enjoyed this self-paced class and was rewarded with new knowledge.

I selected to do a Self-portrait collage as my final piece and that is what I am displaying today. I used many layers and textures for this piece in Painter. I also used composite ways to place the images in place.

Since I am a guitar player the guitar was included as a backdrop and in the images used. If you want to know the techniques, you'll have to take the class!

We lost my boyhood images in a fire so I used images from 1969, the year I graduated from High School which is far back enough, and more recent photographs.

Tweet this if you like the results, and come and visit gatzkART! often and view and read about my Digital Visual Art and Music.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Art for Arts Sake

Citizen Kane Pose - Portrait - PhotoPaint

A self-portrait by my son Keir M. Gatzka gives him a "Citizen Kane" appearance. I took the photograph opening it in PhotoPaint and created a tritone which I converted back to an RGB image.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance on it, and added a photograph frame to it. I did very little to this portrait because it says a lot without much manipulation. A very dark and serious subject.

He really is not like this personality wise. He is more easygoing and full of laughter kind of guy. But he was playing with the camera for effect and I've always thought of Orson Wells when I see it. So it goes with my motif of "laughing and serious," images I have done lately.

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Now playing: Citizen Cope - Sun's Gonna Rise
via FoxyTunes

A Burst of Creativity - Multiple Images

Lois

Ice Cream Truck

Self-Portrait Playing Guitar

Another Guitarist

Peacocks

A Single Peacock

An Artist At Work

Self-Portrait - Painter 8 - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

I rarely do self-portraits but I like the smile in the eyes and mouth from this photograph taken by my wife. I opened it in PhotoPaint and cropped it to only myself, then I resampled it to 96dpi to increase the size of the working image.

From here I opened the saved file in Painter 8 and used the Wow! Book Oil brushes on Auto Clone for the muck up. I painted back in details using the Soft Clone brush. I added the impasto effect to the background. I saved this and opened in Paint.NET.

There I created a duplicate layer and applied Pencil Sketch to that layer and changed it's property to Multiply. Using Adjustments Curves I darkened and increased depth of the pencil sketch. I merged the layers and saved the file again.

Back in PhotoPaint I applied the Tone Curves yet again for additional depth and upped the color saturation by 15, boosting the colors. With Filter Forge's Frames I added the frame to finish the piece. I used the wand to select the frame and applied the Effects> Texture> Plastic> for a 3d look.

Digital Self - Portrait - Charcoals - Tritone

This is a scanned in photograph of me just after I woke up from a nap with my Grandson, Zeke. He slept on my chest. I opened the image in PhotoPaint and used Tune Blur on it as my scanner is older and left some scan lines in it.

After I did that I applied Effects> Art Strokes> Charcoal> to the picture. I upped the coarseness, and the size of the charcoal a bit for details.

I made it a Tritone also in PhotoPaint, getting this deep brown color. And framed it with a Walnut brown 10 pixel border. I converted it back to an RGB 24-bit image and saved it as a JPG file for display here.

I rarely do self-portraits so I had some fun doing one for a change of pace.

Listening --- Hey, Hey Mr. Geography --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka